Wakatsuki Reijiro

Wakatsuki Reijiro (21 March 1866-20 November 1949) was Prime Minister of Japan from 28 January 1926 to 20 April 1927 (succeeding Kato Takaaki and preceding Tanaka Giichi) and from 14 April to 13 December 1931 (succeeding Hamaguchi Osachi and preceding Tsuyoshi Inukai). He was a member of the Kenseikai and Minseito parties.

Biography
Wakatsuki Reijiro was born in Matsue, Izumo Province, Japan in 1866, and he worked as a tax bureau director in the Finance Ministry after graduating from Tokyo Imperial University in the 1890s. Wakatsuki later rose to Vice-Minister, and he was appointed to the House of Peers in 1910 before serving as Finance Minister during the early 1910s. Wakatsuki became a high-ranking Kenseikai leader, and, while serving as Home Minister in Kato Takaaki's government, he worked to enact universal manhood suffrage and anti-opposition laws. In 1926, following Kato's death in office, Wakatsuki became the new Prime Minister, but he resigned in 1927 due to the Showa financial crisis. In 1931, he once again became Prime Minister after Hamaguchi Osachi was injured in an assassination attempt, but he failed to control the Imperial Japanese Army, which launched an unsanctioned invasion of Manchuria. He retired months later, and he became a Minsei Party leader. In 1945, he assisted Prime Minister Kantaro Suzuki in negotiating an end to World War II, and he worked with the Allies to testify against war criminals after the war's end. He died in 1949.